Zephr's Favor
by Hatter Coon
Summary: All roads lead to somewhere. You just need the right guide. - Story told in small segments and updated when I feel like it. Prompts welcome.
1. Chapter 1

***nervously wanders in and tips hat* So, welcome to my first fanfiction in more than a year. To those who have been following me for years, I must apologize and say that this story will not be like most of my previous ones. Which were awful and the product of unfortunate teenage angst. Anywhom. To the new readers, welcome! I decided to share this tidbit in hopes that maybe someone will like and wish me to continue it. Please, leave a review so I can see your thoughts on this prologue. Cheers.**

Prologue: A question.

It was simply amazing, Alice thought as she stared down at the slumped figure before her, how men could abuse their own species so easily. The young person glared up at her through a mass of grimy, tangled hair. "Find something amusing about my appearance, Miss….?", they asked, in a tone that sparked Alice's memories of a certain lazy drawl and… She shook her head. No time to think about those left behind, when she was needed in the present. "Do you know why a raven's like a writing desk…?", she asked in return, crouching down to sit on her heels. The figure blinked and shifted slightly away, the chains around her (Alice could now tell her speaking companion was, indeed, one of the fairer sex.) ankles and wrists clanking dully with the abrupt movement. "…. Could it be…. They both have wings….?" Alice smiled, holding up a key.

"I don't know about writing desks, but I can certainly help you acquire flight…."

In a surprisingly swift move, the chained woman launched herself at Alice, bowling her over. Alice found herself pinned to the filthy cell floor, face to face to the furiously glowing eyes of a Hightopp driven around the bend. "I'll not be caged again….", the lady swore, the slightest hint of an accent coloring her cold words. Alice found herself smiling up into yet another reminder of what she had risked her life and business for. "I require a companion. One who knows of Underland… And who is willing to risk staying, should there be no other way back. You'll be free…" As she spoke, the unnatural glow from her assailant's eyes faded, leaving a lovely shade of faded turquoise in it's wake. After she was finished, the other woman slithered carefully off her, helping Alice carefully to her feet as she did so. "What is your name….?", Alice murmured hesitantly, as shackled hands carefully brush away the dust and other filth off the riding dress her sister loaned her. There was a pause, as her guide mutely held up her wrists to the noble woman. As she freed her from the unforgiving metal, Alice heard the woman speak, once more with careful dignity.

"Anemone, at your service… The Alice."


	2. Chapter 2

_Five years later._

The sound of screaming from the tunnel sent Alice scrambling for her gun, aiming the barrel into the black depths. Seconds later, a group of men shot out of the passage, weaving around her like a herd of horses in their attempt to escape. Hot on their heels was Anemone, running backwards as she shot at whatever was following them. Alice hastily stepped forward, aiming bullet after bullet at the nightmarish creatures trying to get at the other woman from the side.

"I take it that we found the wrong door?", she asked cheerfully, when every creature was fought back into the ancient passage. Anemone grinned sheepishly, nudging a whimpering creature back into the shadowy den with her foot. "Unfortunately. Though, at least we're not drowning in five hundred years of built up rain water…." Alice pouted.

"That wasn't my fault. Who knew that they had an open air reservoir in a temple to a dead god…"

The Underlander snorted, moving more of their former attackers back into the den which she and Alice's team of diggers had wandered into. Alice perched on one of the ruins, watching the younger woman work. Anemone had grown very much since Alice had found her, deep in the belly of some under-funded insane asylum. Removing all the filth caked on the poor girl, revealed gently curling red hair and pale skin that was soon replaced with a beautiful honey tone from the constant exposure of their travels. To Alice's surprise, Anemone wasn't a woman at all. She was thirteen when she was released and already towering awkwardly over the dainty Champion. Now, at nineteen, Anemone stood at an unfashionable six feet and Alice couldn't be prouder.

"Miss Kingsly?"

Brought back to the present by the stuttering voice of her foreman, she glanced down at the short man.

"Yes?"

"W-we-" , he started, before his eyes drifted to beyond her, and his pallor whitened.

"Wha- what is she doing?"

Alice turned and blinked.

All of the tunnel's original occupants were moved back into the shade, already healed from the distracting, but not fatal mortal bullets. Anemone was standing at the edge of the darkness, looking down at them as they crowded at her feet. One, which was the largest and stood at least knee high, pressed two large paws on the woman's thigh, chattering lowly at her.

"It seems, Mr. Jun, that she's talking with it…. Perhaps they wanted to tell us we picked the wrong tunnel…"


End file.
